Sometime later this week, I hope to receive a MacBook I ordered--the first Intel-based Mac I will have used.

I plan on using the migration assistant to move all my files and programs over, including Accordance. I assume that I will need to rerun the installer to install the fonts.

But tell me how this universal binary works. If a software application has a universal binary does it just automatically know what kind of processor it's working on?

The last time I got a new Mac, I used the Migration Assistant and it worked perfectly for me--doing in one hour what used to take an entire day or more. Is it safe to use it with a PowerPC to Intel move as well?

The last time I got a new Mac, I used the Migration Assistant and it worked perfectly for me--doing in one hour what used to take an entire day or more. Is it safe to use it with a PowerPC to Intel move as well?

Has anyone had any problems?

I moved from a PowerBook to a MacBookPro using the migration assistant. No Problems. I don't even remember whether I had to do anything w/ fonts.

Yes, the computer program -- if it is a Universsal -- knows which chipset it is using and adjusts accordingly.

It is designed to NOT nuke your newer software. It does not simply replace the new app folder with the old one...

The migration worked fairly well. I know there are advantages to fresh installs of everything--but who has the time? I was back to work on the new MacBook within an hour. As far as I can tell nothing is missing and nothing was overwritten. I had Migration Assistant move my setting, user account, and applications folder.

I had to reinstall MS Office (it worked, but I kept getting error messages when I launched it) and Norton Antivirus. Accordance transferred over like a charm, including fonts and all.

I would suggest DON'T do migration. I did, and I'm waiting to buy an external hard drive for a bigger backup and then gonna do clean install.
For one, it's going to copy over all those old system files/prefs/etc that you've accumulated but that you don't need junking up your new system.
Also, I had my applications folder organized into subfolders... well, the migration assistant didn't find those, so I ended up with two versions of every Apple Application installed on my system--iTunes, console.app, you name it. That was so lame.

I would suggest DON'T do migration. I did, and I'm waiting to buy an external hard drive for a bigger backup and then gonna do clean install.For one, it's going to copy over all those old system files/prefs/etc that you've accumulated but that you don't need junking up your new system.Also, I had my applications folder organized into subfolders... well, the migration assistant didn't find those, so I ended up with two versions of every Apple Application installed on my system--iTunes, console.app, you name it. That was so lame.

I did the migration thing and was very disappointed with how slow my MacBook became after I did the migration. I have since used the "Activity Monitor" program to check out how many of my apps were running as "PowerPC" programs. I have "upgraded" as many of these as possible to universal binaries, and that has really alleviated my speed issues.

I too suggest you do NOT use the Migration Assistant. After trying to sort through all the various side-effects of doing it that way I finally threw in the towel and did a clean install. Yes, it takes longer initially, but you will save yourself time and endless headaches in the long run.

I too suggest you do NOT use the Migration Assistant. After trying to sort through all the various side-effects of doing it that way I finally threw in the towel and did a clean install. Yes, it takes longer initially, but you will save yourself time and endless headaches in the long run.

I don't know, I've now used the Migration Assistant THREE times as I've upgraded computers, and I've had ZERO problems. There were initially a couple of finicky programs that required me to retype my license key (Accordance was NOT one of them!), but I don't even remember having to do that the last time I upgraded (last fall) using Migration Assistant. I've had nothing but success with it, recommend it, and would use it again.

It's only going to cause problems if you've moved applications and such out of their default folders. If you've left well enough alone, then go for it.

It certainly doesn't hurt to try. Heck, if it doesn't work, you can still reload everything manually.

I don't know, I've now used the Migration Assistant THREE times as I've upgraded computers, and I've had ZERO problems. There were initially a couple of finicky programs that required me to retype my license key (Accordance was NOT one of them!), but I don't even remember having to do that the last time I upgraded (last fall) using Migration Assistant. I've had nothing but success with it, recommend it, and would use it again.

It's only going to cause problems if you've moved applications and such out of their default folders. If you've left well enough alone, then go for it.

It certainly doesn't hurt to try. Heck, if it doesn't work, you can still reload everything manually.

True enough. On the other hand, the problems I had were directly caused by migrating PPC preferences and so on (one significant problem involved Safari) and were very difficult to isolate and fix. Of course, my problems might very well have been the results of user error!

Rick,
I would that the number of unnecessary/orphaned preference files and other fluff that has been transferred over from system to system on your machines would surprise you.
If you have 6 apps and that's all you use, and your not one to try out shareware and the like, then your problems could be minimalized.

The statement, "My system runs fine" has no meaning without a control, right?

My church members often say, "But this is working just fine." But who knows how much more Christ-work we might have accomplished if we had done a clean install.

Rick,I would that the number of unnecessary/orphaned preference files and other fluff that has been transferred over from system to system on your machines would surprise you.If you have 6 apps and that's all you use, and your not one to try out shareware and the like, then your problems could be minimalized.

The statement, "My system runs fine" has no meaning without a control, right?

My church members often say, "But this is working just fine." But who knows how much more Christ-work we might have accomplished if we had done a clean install.

But who has time for this? :-)

Plus, I know how to manually remove preferences from those one time use shareware programs.

I used to reload my system once a year, but I haven't done that in a long while.

Incidentally, I remembered another recent time I used migration assistant with good results. When I got my MacBook, the largest hard drive option at the time was a 120 gb. A few months back, I bought a 160 gb hd to replace it with. I put the original 120 in an external enclosure firewire drive. After loading OS X onto the new, empty drive, I hooked up the original drive via firewire and used migration assistant to pull everything over. It worked like a charm and that's the install that I'm using right now. So I guess, technically, I'm four migration assistant moves in.